ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The UNC Asheville men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams return to competition this weekend when both Bulldog squads compete in the Niswonger Invitational at East Tennessee State on Friday and Saturday.

More than 50 schools throughout the Southeast will be competing this weekend at the prestigious meet. Asheville competed last weekend at the Orange and Purple Classic at Clemson. The Bulldogs had some solid results but head coach Jesse Norman would like to see some improvement this weekend.

“We did just OK at Clemson,” commented Norman. “I thought we could have done a little better in just about everything across the board.

“The Niswonger Invitational is always a great meet to compete in as we’ll see some of the top collegiate track athletes in the nation this weekend,” added Norman. “Hopefully, we’ll perform well and show some improvement from Clemson.”

Action begins on Friday at 10 a.m. with both the hurdles and weight throw competition. On Saturday, the meet continues at 8 a.m. with the finals of the 5000 meters.

Highlighting last week’s performance was Kurt Hibert’s second-place finish in the weight throw. The senior took second with a throw of 16.43 meters. He finished just behind Xavier Mollete of South Carolina (16.44).

Corey McClintock took fifth in the weight throw on the women’s side as she had a throw of 14.21 meters.

Argia Gibson placed 11th in the long jump with a leap of 5.21 meters that tied a school record.

In distance events, Asheville went 7-8-9 in the mile run in women’s action. Kelsie Rubino (5:17.75) was seventh, Erin Dalton (5:19.44) was eighth, and Sarah Heisner (5:24.52) was ninth.

Rachel Carson took sixth in the 800 meters at 2:24. Kylie Smith finished seventh in the 3000 meters with a time of 10:58.

Kassandra Pierre posted a time of 26.46 with a sixth-place finish in the 200 meters.

On the men’s side, Brent Schouler came in fourth in the 5,000 meters with a time of 16:07.86